


Steam

by KindledPhoenix



Category: Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hot Springs, Oneshot, Silly nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-27 14:52:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7622974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KindledPhoenix/pseuds/KindledPhoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which a taboo incident is revealed and a bit more courage is found. Takes place during the PBG route at the hot springs, inside the little inn room. Rated for safety/suggestive content.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steam

Hot springs were supposed to be relaxing. Hana Mizuno was anything but relaxed. It wasn’t every day that your long-lost childhood best friend, suddenly thrust back into your life after all these years, was practically naked in a room with you. Alone. Wearing only towels.

 _Shirtless_.

She didn’t know why this made her so flustered. She’d known this guy for years! Granted, she hadn’t seen him since they were kids. If she had, she would have seen how he had grown from a cowardly boy that always relied on her for help into…into…

Hana swallowed in what she hoped was an unnoticeable way. Just when had he gotten all these muscles? They made his already formidable height seem that much more pronounced to her diminutive stature. _“Look at his face, dammit!”_ She willed herself, finally able to tear her roaming eyes away to look up at his blushing face.

PBG was not doing much better himself. What he had thought was just a childhood crush had come into his life once more, undeniably changed from his memories of her into a stuttering ball of nerves and yet still undeniably the same girl. Flashes of the headstrong spitfire she had been when she would younger would surface every once in a while and he loved it.

He loved her, and he knew now that he always had. From the moment Hana had made her shaky introduction in front of Miss Shizuka’s class and the feelings roared back into his chest, it all became clear. He had to become her friend again, they needed to be as close as they were as kids. Maybe even…closer.

This was pretty damn close right here, he had to admit. Being in a secluded inn room with your crush would be most guys’ dream come true, and to top it off they were more than halfway naked alre-

Mortified, PBG cut that train of thought short, his blush growing hotter than the springs outside and twice as deep. He broke the silence. 

“So, uh…Hana! A-about what happened…”

Wait, what? Why was he bringing that up? Anything but that! Stupid, stupid!

Unaware of PBG’s inner turmoil, Hana cocked her head slightly. “Wait, do you remember? I don’t, and Mai wouldn’t tell me anything.”

Oh jeez. “I, ah…I didn’t at first, but Jared told me because he couldn’t stop laughing about it, and I kept asking him, and…and…” He scratched the back of his neck, avoiding Hana’s questioning gaze.

“Well now I have to know! I can’t be the only one who doesn’t know about it!” The flushes of embarrassment Hana felt were even more pronounced than when PBG had first entered the room but she ignored the warnings and pressed forth with her curiosity. As far as she was concerned, the incident involved her in some way so it was her right to know. PBG seemed very uneasy with spilling the beans but she did her best to affix him with her most threatening forceful glare.

The torment in PBG’s mind was growing too great to handle. This wasn’t something he wanted her to know! She would be the only one out of the four of them to not know…it was too mortifying! Try as he might to resist, he knew he would fall prey to her best attempt at looking intimidating (but the expression really only served to make her look even cuter) and before he knew it:

“Y-youdroppedyourtowelwhilewewereinthehotsprings!”

The jumbled confession tumbled out of his mouth. Letting out a small sound of panic, he slapped his hand over his mouth and took a step back from Hana.

Hana blinked. It took a few seconds for the mass of words to separate in her head, but when they did she mimicked the motions he had just performed. All of the blocked-out memories were suddenly flooding back. Oh God, it was almost the same as that time in the pool when they were kids! Another previously forgotten memory sprung to the forefront of her panicking brain.

When PBG’s mom had noticed what happened, she had begun shouting and waving her arms, pointing at the small floating piece of fabric that was Hana’s top half of her bathing suit. It was such a bother to have to stop playing just to swim after her dumb top. How come she had to wear it when PBG didn’t, anyway? Things had returned to normal after his mom had helped her put it back on, but she must have told her parents about the incident because they asked about it later that night. Her own demanding of answers at that point had let to a discussion that child Hana had found rather icky, and very confusing. She looked at boys in a slightly different way after that.

And yet, that was nothing compared to what was going on now. That sort of stuff had hardly ever really applied growing up, but now here they were, and he had seen her…her…

Oh no. 

Hana suddenly felt lightheaded, but before she could do a repeat of her coping mechanism from earlier she heard a panicked yelp and was quickly enveloped in strong arms and cushioned against a warm chest. A _naked_ chest. She suppressed a shiver at the sudden closeness.

“Hana! Are you alright? Should I call for someone?” A very worried face was directly in front of her vision. Hana held his gaze, trying desperately to ground herself and yet finding it even more difficult to breathe. When had this room gotten so damned _hot_? 

“I-I think I’m alright.” It was a shaky reply but the best she could manage, under the circumstances. Had his eyes always been so green? The clear concern in them was smothering her almost as much as his presence was. Once again, as she had found herself doing a lot of these past few weeks, she wondered how she could have ever forgotten him.

PBG didn’t seem to quite believe her feeble response. His signature worried pout was plain on his face, broadcasting his feelings, and he pulled her even closer to him. They both flushed at the greater contact and seemed to finally realize just how close they had but become, although neither pulled away.

“Y’know…this has happened before. Kind of. Do you remember?” Hana laughed weakly and looked down, face aflame. “W-we were kids; your mom had brought us to the pool…”

“Um. Yeah. I think I do.” He sounded just as flustered as she felt, if not more. They both knew that there were a few major differences from that time years back. It hadn’t been a big deal to them then. Of course, they were much younger then. There wasn’t the trouble of developing bodies…or hormones…

Speaking of which…

Hana couldn’t deny that being this close, skin on skin, to a boy was…exciting. Even if it was PBG, someone she felt was more like a brother than anything else.

…so she told herself. What she was feeling now was decidedly _not_ the way that one feels towards family. 

Biting her lip, she dared to look up at his face again and what she saw made her breath hitch in her throat and the arms around his back tighten. The way he looked right now…it reminded her of the night she saw him on the soccer field, eyes glinting dangerously and fueled with a determination that she had never seen in him before. It was scary then, but now…

“Hana…” He exhaled her name more than spoke it, his voice lower than usual, filled with something that she couldn’t quite place. It was no sooner than she began to wonder whether or not he was being affected just like she was that his lips crashed down onto hers.

Well, that answered that question. If she thought that it had been hard to breathe before it was all but impossible now.

The kiss wasn’t nearly so rough as the passion moments before in his eyes would imply, apparently having been mostly spent in gathering up the nerve to kiss her in the first place. They were both trembling, caught up in the rush of emotions and hormones and an all-too-sudden realization. The realization was not on the side of the messy-haired boy holding onto the pink-haired girl as if letting go would have her slipping back into the past once more. PBG already knew, exactly, how much he wanted this.

A similar clarity had not been afforded to Hana before this very moment. It was funny really how some things just didn’t click into place until they were right up against you, tenderly giving you your first real kiss and tilting your head up the smallest bit so that the height difference wasn’t too obstructing and feeling ever so pleasantly warm like being in the kitchen at her home in Amaririsu while the oven was going full blast just like the time when they were trying to make cookies and could someone’s mind possibly run out of breath thinking of all the things this was doing to her because she was pretty sure that’s what was happening now. Head swimming in a buzzing swarm of thoughts Hana pulled away, gasping for air, trying to focus and grasp on just how the hell this had happened so fast.

At first, PBG almost didn’t notice the change, slowly opening his eyes at the sudden loss of contact, too assaulted by the feelings of satisfaction and simple joy to comprehend. Deeply shocked teal eyes that held excitement and questioning slowly drifted him back down to reality, to which he promptly panicked at. 

“I-I’m sorry!” How could he have messed this up so bad? She was going to hate him for this, this wasn’t what a friend would do. The quick turnings of his head to find an escape route were abruptly stopped by a slender hand that had come from behind him. Hana was facing him back towards her but PBG did his best to try and avoid eye contact. 

“PeanutButterGamer, please…look at me.”

A wince and a grimace. Calling him by his real name rather than just his shorthand was serious business. Not wanting to face the music but having no other real option, he slowly brought his eyes to her smiling face.

Wait…smiling? Even though a bright pink blush was framing it, it was still a smile. The sight was so unexpected that his breath left him in a sudden exhale.

“Why’d you try to run away?” Overcome with shyness at his full attention, Hana looked down slightly, but nevertheless kept her hold on PBG’s tensed up body tight.

“W-what do you mean why? I just…I _kissed_ you just now, and you probably totally hate me now, we only just recently found each other again but now there’s no way you’ll ever want to see me again and-“

A sudden giggle bubbled from Hana, stopping PBG’s desperate rant in its tracks.

“You noticed that I was kissing you back, didn’t you?” Eyes twinkling with simple affection, Hana beamed up at his shocked face. 

“I…you…but...why would you do that?” 

Now shaking with laughter, Hana released PBG and sank down onto one of the beds. PBG sat down also, still very confused but slightly optimistic. It took a minute or so but she calmed down enough to address him again.

“You’re so silly sometimes, PBG, but to be honest…I don’t think I would have admitted to myself that it was something I wanted before you, well…showed me.” Another laugh escaped her lips. “All this time, I was in denial. I thought you were just a really close friend, I kept ignoring or rationalizing the signs of something more.”

Reaching over to him, Hana took PBG’s hands in hers.

“I don’t know what this is yet PBG, but I know it’s something bigger than just friendship. And I know you must feel it too.”

Oh, if only she knew. This was the subject of his dreams coming to life right in front of him. It wasn’t the unabashed declaration of love…but this was still more than he had dared to hope for. With a slight chuckle and a squeeze of her hands, he replied.

“I guess I kinda laid it all out there, huh?”

“You could say that,” Hana smirked, but then she took on a more curious expression. “So…um…what do we do now?”

“Well, uh…we both have feelings for each other, right?” Hana nodded, blushing fully. “Then…we should date! Hana, please be my girlfriend!” PBG tumbled off the bed, kneeling in front of the flustered girl with their still entangled hands pressed against his chest and his eyes bright with earnestness. 

“P-PBG!” This was brazen of him, however given his taking of initiative earlier Hana supposed this wasn’t as out of character for her childhood friend as she would have thought. There was still so much she didn’t know about this newly confident version of the boy she used to beat back bullies for. But…was that really a bad thing? Relationships were about learning more about each other, right? 

Hana answered him by tugging him forward and taking some initiative of her own.

They would find out together.

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first attempt at fic writing since I was in...high school or middle school I think! Please let me know how I did and offer any constructive criticism you feel is appropriate.  
> Confession time: I originally intended for this to devolve into smuttiness (they're in only towels for heaven's sake) but I ended up here instead! If enough there's enough interest I may continue the story in that direction, but for now this stands on its own. Thanks for reading! :)


End file.
